The Mask
by Cuthien Moonleaf
Summary: Raven writes Robin a poem and that starts a chain of letters. R&R RaeRob
1. The poem

OK, Draco and I are currently working on four stories at once. So if I don't update right away, I'm sorry.

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Hidden behind the mask,

_There is the real you_

_Hidden behind the mask_

_Is the man, the real you_

_The you that laughs,_

_The you that cries,_

_The you that sleeps,_

_The you that is not obsessed._

_Will anyone see the real you?_

_Will you ever take off the mask?_

_For behind that acursed mask_

_Is the you that people want to see._

_The you that loves,_

_The you that smiles,_

_The you that tires,_

_The you that people can't see._

_Take off the mask._

_Show your real self._

_Why do you hide it?_

_All people have emotions_

_Don't be ashamed of them_

_Embrace them, use them._

_Take a chance, it will be well worth it._

_Just take off the mask_

_You will feel so much better._

_Don't hide the real you_

_People may want to see you._

_Not just your body, your soul too_

_So please, take off the mask._

**Robin read the poem over and over. He couldn't believe that this was from Raven. The Raven that never showed her emotions either. She was like the Goddess of Mystery herself. So why would Raven tell him to show his emotions? She did have a good reason, though. What was his reason? **

**He thought about that. Why didn't he show emotions? The only emotion that he ever showed was obsession. Obsession over finding Slade. But he never showed any other emotion. Why not?**

**The answer came soon enough. Because he would risk losing his mind if he did. Robin has had some traumatic experiences in his life. Like seeing his parents die at an early age. Imagine it. Seeing your mother fall from the trapeze and your father slip trying to save her. And you can do nothing to save them.**

**But still, why would Raven of all people send him a letter telling him to open up? She never showed any emotions, only anger. And even then, only rarely. 'Don't meddle in business that isn't yours' Robin thought.**

**ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOO**

**Downstairs, Raven could tell that Robin had gotten her poem. All she wanted him to do was lighten up a little. But her poem had upset him more than that. She could tell by the way he was stomping around. Should she go talk to him? It was probably best to let him stomp for now. He might get very mad at her. And all she wanted was to know what was going on.**

**She could tell that there was in battle going on inside him. Sort of like her's against her demonic side. Only, his wasn't demonic. His was like one person against another. But who against who? That's what she wanted to know. And he had to let it out by telling someone. She just didn't want this battle to consume him.**

**Robin came downstairs at that moment and Raven saw that he looked slightly distressed. "I'm sorry, Robin. I just care what happens to you." Raven said under her breath.**

**Cyborg also saw that Robin looked stressed. "Yo, Rob. You OK?" he asked.**

**"I'm fine. Just a little tired, I guess." Robin lied, managing a wan smile.**

**The alarm rang at that moment and Cyborg told Robin to sit this one out. "Take a nap. Just relax." he said.**

**The rest of the team ran out the door so Robin couldn't argue. Robin sighed, then pulled a piece of paper near him and started writing. When he finished, he stood up and walked to Raven's door. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself to walk into the most private room of the Titans Tower. He walked quickly, set the note on her bed, and was walking out when something caught his eye. He picked it up and noticed that it was written by Raven. 'So Raven wrote a book?' Robin thought. He stole it and meant to give it back when the team arrived, but he was too engrossed in it.**

**Raven came in last and went straight up to her room. The next moment, an awful shriek was heard and Beastboy was hoisted up in black and Raven appeared in front of him with red eyes. "What did you do with it!" she yelled.**

**"What did I do with what?" Beastboy asked. "I haven't pulled any practical jokes, I swear!"**

**"Who has it!" Raven yelled, looking at the rest of the Titans.**

**"Whoa, calm down Raven. We can't tell you if we have what you're looking for if we don't know what you lost." Cyborg reasoned.**

**Raven calmed down a bit and said, "It's a big, black book with silver pages. As thick as that book there." She pointed to a thick book that wasn't the one she was looking for. "It was in my room on my dresser, but now it's gone!"**

**"Well, could you have moved it before we left and forgotten that you moved it?" Robin asked, timidly.**

**"I tore my room apart to find it, Robin. It wasn't in there." Raven explained.**

**"OK, we'll fan out and search for it. Whoever finds it, call the rest of us to this room." Robin said, abruptly in charge.**

**They all sped off in different directions. Robin ran upstairs to his room, then picked up the book and put it in the hallway in front of Starfire's door. He sprinted off in the other direction. Little did he know that he was watched the whole time. **

**Raven came up behind him and ignored the book. She went into her room, to 'search again'. She was actually trying to figured out why he went into her room. Then she saw the note. She read it once through then read it again. So his parents died in a trapeze accident? That's what made him so emotionless? Well, it wasn't as bad as her reason. But still, why not show any emotion? Did he not want to break down in front of his team? This letter answered many questions, but it also raised many others.**

**Someone knocked on her door and she opened it her usual length. Cyborg had knocked and he held out a black book with silver pages. "This the book?" he asked.**

**"Yes, thank you." replied Raven in her usual monotone, but Cyborg could tell that it had more emotion behind it than others. She took it and went back to her bed, not to read it, but to write another letter to Robin. In this one, she didn't write a poem, but questions. Questions like: Why don't you show any other emotion? and Do you still have trouble accepting their deaths?**

**As she finished, someone else knocked on the door. This time it was Robin. "Why does that book mean so much to you?" he asked. "You would have just throttled Beastboy, not alerted everyone else if it were another book."**

**"This book is much, much more than any other book. This book, I wrote when I was twelve, about my birth and several other things. So you see, this isn't just any other book, this book is my life, my soul." Raven replied.**

**"Wow. No wonder you were so upset at losing it. I'm just glad it was found." Robin said.**

**"You want to read it?" Raven asked, surprising herself and Robin. 'Yet why not?' she thought. 'This is a good way to get Robin to open up more.'**

**"Uh... Sure." Robin said. Raven handed him the book and he was careful not to reveal, whether in thought or otherwise, that he had started it already. Yet, when he got to his room, he opened to the page where he stopped and there was a letter there. 'Coincidence' he thought. He moved the letter aside for later and continued the book.**

**For a while he read about Raven's past. It was heart-wrenching. No wonder she was a goth.

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**REVIEW! (Please)**


	2. Love appears

OK, Draco and I are currently working on four stories at once.

**Chikorita-Trainer: **Well, thank you.

**Scaredbyshallowness: **I will. Thank you

**Spooke: **Ok. I will if you keep reviewing

**Elena: **thank you. Can you believe that I wrote that poem in the car on the way to school one morning?

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**For a while he read about Raven's past. It was heart-wrenching. No wonder she was a Goth. Then he remembered the letter. What was on it? No better time to find out. He opened the letter and started reading. 'Raven cares about why I don't show emotion? Interesting.' he thought. Robin grabbed a piece of paper and started writing the answers to her questions. When he finished, he wondered how to give it to Raven. **

**'I know! I'll give it to her the same way she gave me mine.' Robin thought. He slipped the paper into Raven's book so that when he gave it back, Raven would have the note as well. Then he continued reading.**

**Some time later, Robin realized that he was hungry. He looked at the time. It was late afternoon. 'I missed lunch.' thought Robin. He went down to the kitchen and started fixing a few sandwiches. Raven came in just as he was finished and set the tea kettle on the stove. "Hey, Raven." Robin said, putting the three sandwiches on a plate.**

**"Mm." Raven said in response. She was watching the tea kettle heat up.**

**"Is that all you can say?" Robin asked teasingly. Raven glared at him. "Right. Sorry." After a long silence during which Robin ate two of his sandwiches, he decided to ask her a question. "Raven, in your book..."**

**Raven covered his mouth with her hand. "Not here. I will meet you on the roof when my tea is done, but never talk about my past in public." She removed her hand and resumed watching to tea kettle. Soon it began to whistle. Raven got up and poured some tea into a cup, putting a tea bag in as well. Then she climbed the stairs to the roof, giving herself time to think of what Robin wanted to ask.**

**Robin had left almost as soon as Raven had moved her hand, but he didn't go directly to the roof. First he went to his room and grabbed the book. Then he dashed to the roof to get there before Raven. Presently she arrived and settled herself next to Robin at the edge of the roof.**

**Robin drew a breath before speaking. "Raven, in your book, you say that you can't feel any emotion. Yet you seem to be feeling many emotions. Why is that?"**

**Raven was startled. Of all the questions he could have asked about her book, which was OK for a twelve year old, he had to ask the one that she had no ready answer for. "I guess a good way to answer that would be to say that I can feel emotions. Remember, I wrote that when I was twelve. At that time, I believed that I didn't have emotions. A year later, I discovered that they were just well under control."**

**"How did you discover that?" Robin asked.**

**Again with the difficult questions. Raven sighed. "I found my first crush. He was an Azerathian and was just a passing crush, but he helped me discover my emotions."**

**"Oh." Robin said. For a while they both sat, Robin thinking, Raven meditating. A cool breeze wafted around them, making Raven's cloak flutter. 'She really should smile more often. She looks beautiful when she smiles.' Robin thought. He shook his head then, as if realizing what he just thought. Raven looked over. "Are you OK?" she asked.**

**"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some hair in my face." Robin said, mentally shaking himself at the lame excuse.**

**"OK." Raven said. She got up and headed for the door. Robin sat on the rooftop a while longer thinking about that thought of his. He finally decided that it was an observation and went in.**

**For the rest of the day, Robin spent his time working out, trying to keep his mind off of Raven. Hitting the punching bag one more time, Robin gave up. He just couldn't stop thinking about Raven. How, even when she's concerned or worried, she looked beautiful. Her lips curved just the right way to make a frown or even a sneer look cute. Her amethyst eyes hold a wonderful sparkle when she laughs. Robin wondered what Raven was doing just now. 'Probably just reading another book.' he thought.**

**Robin left for his room and sat cross-legged on the floor. You never would have thought it on the outside, but inside, this boy wonder was a bundle of emotions. You also would have never thought that Robin meditates every once in a while. So Robin sat on the floor, and, not having to have meditated for a few months, rehearsed what Batman, or Bruce Wayne had taught him.**

**Flashback**

**"Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Think of nothing and everything at once." said the mysterious voice of Batman.**

**"How do I manage that?" a young Robin asked.**

**"First think of nothing. Empty your mind. Now think of everything. History, Math, Science, English, you name it; it's in your thoughts. Now do both at the same time." Batman said.**

**"All that does is give me a headache." Robin said, grinning.**

**"Quit fooling around. This helps when you're fighting a particularly nasty villain." Batman scolded.**

**"OK, OK. I think I've got it now. What next?" Robin asked.**

**"Think of all the things that are troubling you. Pick them out one by one. Dissect each one to find their true meaning." Batman said.**

**End Flashback**

**Robin started and after a while figured out why he couldn't get his mind off Raven. He loved her.**

**When Raven left Robin, she went to her room and grabbed a random book off the shelf beside her door. She put it down after about five minutes, though. It was all about this girl who couldn't be loved even though she could love herself. "Forget it. I'll never get anything done that way." Raven muttered to herself.**

**Instead, Raven made a circle of candles. She was preparing to bring her other selves, except anger, into her room. She didn't feel like getting her mirror from it's new hiding spot right now. **

_**"Emotions come, emotions go**_

_**Let's keep them at an all-time low**_

_**In the circle they shall stand**_

_**Until, once more, flame meets hand."**_

**Raven chanted and the representations of her emotions flowed into the room from the mirror's hiding spot. All came, even a new one, in a light, sky-blue outfit. "Who are you?" Raven asked, surprised.**

**"Well." said the sky-blue cloaked girl, "I'm Love."**

**"Why are you here?" Raven asked.**

**"Well, I'm here because of a certain other Titan." said Love.**

**"Which Titan are you here because?" Raven asked.**

**"You will have to find that out on your own. I will say that he's around you a lot." Love replied, giggling slightly.**

**"You're supposed to be helping me, not making me more confused. Where's Intelligence?" Raven said, looking around.**

**A Raven with glasses and a yellow outfit stepped forward. **

**"Is this girl real?" Raven asked.**

**"Yes. And you would do well to listen to her. She can help you a lot." Intelligence said.**

**"Fine. What do you have to say, Love?" Raven asked.**

**"This Titan loves you too. He will tell you anything you ask him, except maybe what his real name is. He is afraid of rejection and is driven to win. You will change a lot for him." Love said.**

**"I'm not changing one bit." Raven admonished Love.**

**"But you've already started to change. You've started talking and caring more. You write notes like some girl in high school. Need more?" Love said.**

**"Fine. I've changed. But only a little. Now, who is it?" Raven asked.**

**"I'm not telling. You have to find out. I've already said that. Now, you can tell who it is by your stomach. Your stomach will get butterflies in it every time you're near him. Gotta go! Bye!" Love said. She faded out.**

**"That girl will drive me crazy. You all can go now." Raven said, waving a hand over the candle in front of her. The flame went out and the 'Ravens' disappeared.**

**'Guess the best way to find out who I love is to go downstairs.' Raven thought.

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**Review! Everyone who does gets pizza or a cake.**


	3. Done with the book?

**SO SORRY for not updating! I blame laziness, plus my muse left, plus I moved. **

"**She's updating all of her stories today, and she's going to be repeating herself a lot." Draco said.**

**Yes, I will. I do not own the Teen Titans, and I am lazy.

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'Guess the best way to find out who I love is to go downstairs.' Raven thought. 'I'll find out tomorrow.' She yawned and fell onto her bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, she went downstairs to see all three guys watching TV. 'Great. This won't help at all.'

'Yes, it will.' said Love in her head. 'Just go sit down.'

'Fine! If you would just quit bugging me.' Raven muttered. She grabbed one of her books off the table next to her and went to sit down. Robin looked up from the movie they were watching in order to get a closer look at Raven.

For a second, Raven felt a pair of eyes on her. When she looked up, everyone was staring at the TV. 'This could be hard.' she thought.

She went back to her book, intent on finding her admirer. A few minutes later, she felt someone staring at her again. When she looked up, however, no one was. 'This is going to take forever.' Raven thought.

She stood up and left for the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Robin looked up and noticed that Raven had gone. After a few minutes, when he thought it was safe, he got up and left the room. In the kitchen, Raven was making tea again. Robin passed through, pretending to be on the way to his room, and stopped to talk to Raven.

"Hey." Robin said.

"Hi." Raven said, not looking up from her book.

"What are you reading?" Robin asked.

"Lord of the Rings." Raven kept her answers as short as possible, aware of the feeling in her stomach. 'Could it be Robin?' she thought.

'You finally get it.' said Love in her mind.

'You evil wench. Why didn't you just tell me?' Raven thought.

'Because I'm supposed to be mysterious and confusing.' Love said.

"Is it good?" Robin asked for the third time.

"Huh? Oh, yes. The book is good." Raven said.

"That's good. What's it about?" Robin asked.

"A group of people have to go out and destroy an evil ring." Raven said.

"Can I read it?" Robin asked.

"Sure. Take this copy." Raven said.

"Are you sure? I don't want to keep you from your way of ignoring Beastboy and Cyborg." Robin said.

"I'm sure. That's one of the few books I have that I have two copies of." Raven said. The tea kettle whistled. Raven shut the book, handed it over to Robin, and went to finish fixing her tea.

"That reminds me. When should I give back the other book?" Robin asked, leaning in close to Raven so that no one would hear.

Raven drew in a short breath. 'He's awfully close.' "Whenever you finish it." Raven said. 'Please back up.' she thought.

Robin left, probably to go read one of Raven's two books. Raven went up to her room and decided to read a book. 'Where is it?' she thought. She was looking for the book Tales of Edgar Allen Poe from the collection of stories. She wanted to read "The Tell-tale Heart" right now. 'Ah, here it is.' She lit a single candle on her floor and sat next to it, reading by the single flame.

She nearly freaked herself out when the alarm went off as she got to the part about the old man dying. 'Calm down, Fear. It's just the alarm.' she thought.

She went downstairs to find out what was going on. "Who's robbing what now?" she asked.

"That's just it. Our system can't find the robbery, yet it knows there is one. It's very strange." Robin said, turning to type on the keyboard. "Ah, that's why. It's in a warehouse on the outskirts of town. We don't even have scanners or anything there. Titans, GO!"

They dashed out of the house and ran/flew/drove to the spot of consequence. There they found no villain, just a confused man. "Is this Jump City?" he asked.

"Yes. What do you need?" Robin asked.

"I... can't remember. I just remember that I needed to go to Jump City." the man said. He fell backwards, unconscious.

"Raven, Starfire, take this man to the infirmary. We'll meet you there." Robin said.

"Friend-Raven, will he be the OK?" Starfire asked as they flew home.

"Yes. He's just knocked out. He'll be fine." Raven said.

"Are you sure?" Starfire asked.

"I'm positive." said Raven. "Let's get to the tower, shall we?"

"Yes." Starfire said. They flew in silence the rest of the way home. When they got home, Raven hooked the man up to the machines in the infirmary.

"We'll wait until Cyborg gets home to treat him." Raven said.

"Yes, Friend-Raven." Starfire said. Starfire headed toward the garage to await the rest of their friends, while Raven went into the living room. It was one of those rare times that she could sit in this room without getting a pounding headache from the TV.

When the guys got back, Raven immediately went to her room, while Beastboy turned on the TV and Robin and Cyborg were checking on the guy in the infirmary.

When Robin was sure that the guy was OK, he went to his room to finish Raven's first loan to him. 'She should get my note soon.' Robin thought, a bit guilty about not continuing the chain of letters between them. He finished the book that night and was about to give it back to Raven when he saw that it was two o'clock in the morning. 'I'll return it tomorrow.' he thought, stretching out on his bed to get some sleep.

Raven was jolted awake the next morning, not by anyone else, it was too early, but by a feeling. She felt that something was going to go horribly, horribly wrong today. She headed to the roof, hoping that the rising sun would help calm her down and figure out what was going to go wrong. It didn't work, because before she could calm herself down enough to think, she heard the door to the roof slam.

"Raven? Is anything wrong?" Robin asked.

"Yes." Raven said.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked.

"I don't know." Raven replied.

"You don't know what's wrong?" Robin asked, confused.

"Exactly. Something's going to go wrong today, but I can't tell what." Raven said.

"Oh. Well, I'll leave you to meditate. I just wanted to return your book before anyone else woke up." Robin said, setting down the book before turning to leave.

"Did you like it?" Raven asked.

"Yes. I liked it a lot." Robin said. He walked back into the tower.

'He didn't get much sleep last night. I can tell. I wonder why?' Raven thought before returning to her meditation.

After about an hour, she could tell that meditation wasn't going to work. Raven got up and grabbed her book before heading back downstairs. She went into her room and opened her book to the first page. A piece of paper fell out. 'What's this?' Raven thought, picking it up. It was Robin's letter, the answers to all of her questions.

Raven sat down and read it. Then she grabbed another piece of paper and wrote back to Robin, advising him on how to get more control of the sadness and anger so he could show more emotions without feeling like he was going to go mad. She went downstairs to see Robin down there, so she teleported to his room and placed the letter on his pillow.

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**VERY SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING. Feel free to yell at me. I can handle it.**

**Cuthien Moonleaf and Draco the Dragon**


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